Dark day for Dogs in Texas

The two-time defending national champions lost 4-2 to 12th-ranked Texas in the NCAA quarterfinals on Sunday, snapping a 15-match NCAA tournament winning streak.

Georgia won the doubles point on Saturday before rain washed out the day's events in College Station, pushing the singles matches to Sunday morning. Texas quickly took control in singles play with three quick wins and ultimately ended the fourth-ranked Bulldogs' season when Olivier Sajous beat Georgia's Josh Varela 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) at No. 4 singles for the clinching victory.

"Texas played a great match today. We had a lot of momentum after the doubles yesterday and then the rain delay, and it just felt like a separate match today," Georgia coach Manuel Diaz said in a university release. "We got outplayed today, and that can happen in sports."

Texas took a 3-1 lead with straight-set singles wins at No. 6 over Borja Malo, No. 5 over Christian Vitulli and No. 1 over Nate Schnugg before Georgia's Javier Garrapiz finally stopped the bleeding with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ed Corrie at No. 2.

That made it 3-2 Texas with Varela and No. 3 Jamie Hunt still in action. Hunt pushed his match into a third set and was trailing 3-2 when Sajous prevailed 7-4 in a second-set tiebreaker over Varela to clinch the Longhorns' victory. Sajous had won 8-6 in a tiebreaker to win the first set.

"Texas played really great," Hunt said. "It was a little bit of a challenge coming back out today for singles after we won doubles yesterday. That's the first time I've ever had to do that. We were still fired up and just as excited. Texas came out and played better in a couple of spots and got the momentum."

Georgia (25-4) had not lost in the NCAA Tournament since falling to Pepperdine in the 2006 national finals. Since then, the Bulldogs had won the 2007 national title in Athens and the 2008 crown in Tulsa, Okla.

They will still be in the running for individual national titles, as Schnugg will compete in the NCAA Singles Championships starting on May 20 and will compete with Hunt in NCAA Doubles, as well.